


Sharpe is Shot. Again.

by DorsetGirl



Series: Sharpe - Weekly Clip Transcripts [5]
Category: Sharpe (TV), Sharpe - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, M/M, Movie: Sharpe's Peril
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28163499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DorsetGirl/pseuds/DorsetGirl
Summary: And Patrick rescues him. Again.
Relationships: Patrick Harper/Richard Sharpe
Series: Sharpe - Weekly Clip Transcripts [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172534
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Sharpe is Shot. Again.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j0HojCJwoc) from Sharpe's Peril.

~ ~ ~

Pat glances back across the river just as Sharpe falls, and he practically has to stop himself sighing resignedly before grabbing the volleygun from his pack and wading back as fast as he can.

Of course it’s Sharpe that’s down. Of course it is. The man always has to play the hero - well, that’s not fair, is it, he’s not *playing* the hero at all, always has to be first on the battlefield and last off it. It’s a trait Patrick admires in the man, though it does get tiring. Always having to pick him up, dust him off. Would be nice one day to have some time together without the nursing for an excuse.

As he forces his way through the deepest part of the river, he sees the Major is shot in the back. The wound looks small and the man is on his feet and moving, so Patrick leaves him to the ministrations of the lad and heads towards the shallows where Marie-Angelique is trying to help Sharpe. 

But Dragomirov is close by shouting directions and two of his men drag her away, reaching the bank Sharpe's just left as two more men surge towards Sharpe. _Gentlemen_ , says Harper to himself as he aims and fires in one instinctive movement, _meet Mr Nock_ , and they both find themselves having left it too late to learn how to swim.

And now he’s reached his man, still on his back in the water, and it’s lucky the colonel is slighter than Harper; he can’t let go of the gun - you’d never find its like in this benighted country, never mind that it was a present from Sharpe himself - so he has to drag Sharpe to his feet by the arm. Time enough to apologise later that it’s the one he’s been shot through - though luckily it looks as if it did go straight through - but for now what’s worrying Harper is the way Sharpe seems completely flattened by the shot. He’s seen Sharpe carry on killing Frenchmen with worse wounds than this, but now he’s shaking, the stuffing knocked right out of him.

Harper doesn’t like the look of that at all.

Keeping a firm hold on Sharpe’s arm, and talking him a constant babble of encouragement - though he bites his tongue hard just before “there’s a good lad” slips out - Harper drags Sharpe across the river, lays him down on the ground and drops to his knees next to him. 

He’s lost count how many times he’s done this before.

He’s about to pull Sharpe closer so he can check the wound when from the direction they’ve just come he hears Marie-Angelique call the colonel’s name as Joubert’s horse carries her away, and that seems to rouse him.

The damn fool is as weak as a baby, Harper can see he’s in trouble, but still he has to stagger to his feet, doesn’t he, and head back into the water. Harper drops the gun on the dusty ground and is on him in a flash.

“Where the hell are you going?” he demands, grabbing by the shoulders and holding on tight.

“Can’t leave her to ’em, Pat”.

“You go up past that level and you’re a dead man. What use are you to her then?” says Harper, holding him even closer. Sharpe struggles still and Pat worries that he’ll use up the last of his strength so he digs his fingers in just above the wound to make Sharpe focus on himself for a bit. He’ll knock him out if he has to, there’ll be time enough to worry about Marie-Angelique after they’ve sorted out the rest of their ever-diminishing party. The Count is hardly going to kill Joubert’s fiancée, is he, and if he does, well, Harper feels bad for thinking it, but better her than Sharpe.

Pat drags the colonel out of the water and throws him, still swearing, to the ground. 

The wound wants binding, the company needs hauling back into order and there’s the Major to worry about, and before Pat has retrieved his gun Sharpe is already levering himself up, back in control.

~ ~ ~


End file.
